Song of the Day: Deadsea

All week, I'll be localizing things for the "Song of the Day" to commemorate my favorite-ever Comfest. Let the good times roll...

Artist: Deadsea Track: "The Morning Frost"

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When I got to Comfest at 2 p.m. Friday, the Offramp stage was packed for Deadsea, one of several hardworking metal trios in town. And I like to think that me picking Deadsea as a must-see show in our print edition had something to do with that.

This music, however, speaks for itself, and guitarist Adam Smith's shredding alone was enough to magnetize a good portion of the early risers at Goodale Park.

They included this instrumental number in their phenom set, during which I caught a bright purple guitar pick from Smith. It was my most metal moment. The pick soon will be framed.

They weren't the loudest band at Comfest - Lo-Pan or the Lindsay takes those honors - but this was by far the purest metal act to perform, legitimizing its inclusion for years to come.

Metal - and the public's increasingly ironic and passionate fascination with it - gets a lot of leeway when it's over the top. Since ordinary people rock a Slayer T-shirt only for fun on weekends, they don't mind seeing a band cop out with a garish display of tongue-wagging or, say, fake blood.

That's partly why I like Deadsea so much: It seems they really believe using a smoke machine on a sunny afternoon is a legitimate, worthwhile performance device. They could be joking around and get away with it - but they're serious about what they do and the music they make.

And I'm glad for it.

They've got a new record coming out this fall, and there's supposedly some good buzz about it among a few indie labels. More on this to come.